Machine for making looped or tufted fabrics



Nov. 6, 1951 B. KAHN 2,574,103

MACHINE FOR MAKING LOOPED OR TUFTED FABR ICS Filed Oct. 26, 1949 4 Sheets-Sheet l IN V EN TOR.

, a ENJA mu HA HN ATTORNEY Nov. 6, 1951 B. KAHN MACf-TINE FOR MAKING LOOPED OR TUFTED FABRICS 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 26, 1949 m mk Em. Wm J m B ATTORNEY Nov. 6, 1951 B. KAHN 2,574,108

MACHINE FOR MAKING LOOPED 0R TUFTED FABRICS Filed Oct. 26, 1949 a 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. 115 BENJAMIN KAHN A TTURNE Y Nov. 6, 1951 B. KAHN 2,574,108

MACHINE FOR MAKING LOOPED 0R TUFTED FABRICS Filed Oct. 26, 1949 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 7 ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 6, 1951 r UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MACHINE FOR MAKING LOOPED R TUFTED FABRICS Benjamin Kahn, Gadsden, Ala. Application-October 26, 1949, Serial No. 123,544

set of hooks which are adapted to form loops.

and which, if desired, may be provided with a knife edge as disclosed in-my co-pending application Ser. No. 114,005, filed September 3, 1949, for the purpose of cutting the loops thus formed.

The hook bar is reciprocated relative to a shedformed in conventional manner by preferably dobby-operated harnesses, these reciprocations occurring at regular intervals and being synchronized with the movements of a lay and a shuttle to cause the hooks during, each rearward swing of the hook bar to engage special threads or yarns, known as the pile warp, which form part of the shed and extend parallel to the regular warp threads. Each yarn thus engaged is formed into a loop on the subsequent return swing of the hook bar, the loops being thereupon securely anchored to the fabricby the weft threads one or more of which are inserted between adjacent loops of the same yarn.

Difiiculties have occasionally arisen in preventing the hooks from entraining some of the threads of the ordinary or ground warp, especially where the warp threads were closely spaced or where short loops were required, in the last mentioned case because it was necessary to engage the pile warp close to the cloth line; i. e. near the point where the threads of the shed converge. Such entrainment led, of course, to entanglement and even tearing or cutting of the ground warp.

It is, therefore, an object of the present im-' provement to provide, in a machine of the'character described, means that will avoid the inconveniences set forth above.

More particularly, it is an object of thisEtinvention to provide reciprocating means for' a hook bar which will insure that the path of the hooks will not cross the threads of the ground warp.

Another object of the instant invention is to provide a machine adapted to form very short loops or pile.

A further object of my present invention is to provide, in a machine of the character set fprth, improved means for convenientlyadjust- 6 Claims. (Cl. 139-38) ing the length of the loops or pile to be formed. a The above and other objects will become apparent from the following description of a now preferred embodiment, reference being had to the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. l is a rear view of the machine disclosed in my first-mentioned co-pending application, incorporating the present improvement;

- Fig.2 is a sectional elevation taken on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top view, on a larger scale, of part of the hook bar and the mechanism according to the invention;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the elements shown in Fig. 3;

V Fig. 5 is a section taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 6 is a section taken on the line 66 of Fig. 5.

The machine 20 comprises a frame 2! whereon are supported the various elements of a conventional horizontal loom, including the warp beam 22, the take-up roll 23, guide rollers 24, 25, a toothed feed roller 26, the lay 2! pivoted at 28, a set of dobbies 29 co-operating with harness levers 30 for selectively operating various harnesses such as shown at 3!, 32, 35, these harnesses being controlled through wires 33 passing over rollers 34, and a motor (not shown) which actuates all of these elements in a manner not further described because well known per se. Weft threads, supplied from suitable spools or the like, form fillings 36 between the warp threads 31, the warp threads passing from the beam'22 over guide rollers 24, 25 and rails 89, through the heddles of harnesses 3!, 35, through the reed of the lay 27! and, after having been turned into a fabric 38, over the guide roller 26 to the take-up roll 23.

Secured to the frame 2! adjacent the ends of its breast beam 40 are a pair of slide boxes or guides 4|, MI Within which move the slides 43, M3, respectively. The front end of slide 43 carries a T-shaped bracket 45 to the two horizontal arms of which are attached the ends of a pair of contracting springs 46, 4'! having their other ends anchored to pins 48, 49 projecting from the box 4|; similar springs M6, M1 are secured to an anchor plate I45 carried by the front end of slide I413. The tendency of springs 46, 41, I46, I41 is to displace the slides rearwardly from the position shown in full lines to that shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5.

Since the two slides are identical, only one of them (the left-hand slide 43) will be described in detail. The slide is provided at the underside of its forward extremity with a set of sawteeth 50 co-operating with a dog I, the latter being pivoted at 52 to the box M. A vertical actuating rod 54, slidably guided in a sleeve 53 which is secured to the frame 2|, is aligned with the rear extremity of dog 5| and has its lower end pivoted to a lever 55 rotatably held in theframe 2| 'by a stud 56. A spring 51, anchored to the frame 2I, tends to maintain the rod 54 in a raised position and, thereby, to hold the dog 5I engaged with a pair of teeth 55' after the slide 43, in a manner subsequently described, has been displaced toward the front against the action of springs 46, 41.

The rod 54 and its companion rod I54, asso-- Adjustably secured to the plate 95, by means of a bolt IOI, is a bent rod I00 having its other extremity fixed by a nut I03 to the center arm of the T-shaped bracket 45. Forward displacement of the slide 43 (thus of the carriage 59) will therefore swing the plate 95 counterclockwise about the stud shaft 94, thereby imparting a similar movement to the ratchet 98 and the gear 93, this in turn resulting in a clockwise rotation of gear 92 and roller 83 as viewed in Fig. 2.

The rollers 34 are mounted on shafts I04, I05 journaled in a pair of parallel channel members I05, I01 which are supported, in turn, on the bifurcate extensions I08, I09 of frame 2|. Depending from the channel member or beam I01 are a pair of fiat supporting bars III, II2 adciated with the right-hand slide 44, are adapted to be periodically depressed against the action of a spring 51 and a similar spring (not seen) by means of cams GI, 62 mounted on a common shaft 60, these --cams respectively co-operating with levers 55, 63. Motion is imparted to the shaft 60 by means of a cylinder or pulley 84 secured to the shaft by a set screw 65 and having the end of a wire 66 wrapped around it, this wire being anchored to the screw 55'. The wire passes around a guide roller 61 as well asone of the guide rollers 34 and is fixed to a special harness lever I30 (shown broken off for purpose of clarity) operated by the dobbies 29. A torsion spring 42, wrapped. around the shaft 90 and anchored to the frame 2I at 44, tends to restore the cams GI, 62 to their normal position after they have been displaced therefrom by the action of wire 66.

Bridged across the rear ends of the two slides 43, I43, are a pair of parallel beams 68, 89 which together with these slides form a reciprocable carriage generally indicated at 59. The rear end of each slide further carries a lug 1I forming an abutment for a pair of plates I1I mounted on the forward face of the lay adjacent the two ends of its reed. The positions of these lugs on their slides are adjustable by means of screws 12 passing through suitably elongated slots.

At the rear end of the machine there are provided a pair of uprights 82 (only one shown) formin an extension of the frame 2 I. These uprights support a feed roller 83', a co-operating presser roller 84, a guide plate 85 and a deflecting roller 86. Guide plate 85 is provided with apertures 81 through which pass respective threads 88, running parallel with the warp threads 31 taken from the beam 22. These threads or yarns 88, which represent the pile warp previously referred to and may be somewhat heavier than the ground warp 31, are supplied by separate spools or the like, not shown, and enter between the feed roller 83 and the presser roller 84, thence pass around the deflecting roller 85 and, after passage of the guide rails 89, enter the heddles of harness 32; they, together with the upper warp threads 3111 and the lower warp threads 31b, form a shed 90' as the result of the relative movement of the harnesses (H, 32 and 35.

Mounted on the shaft SI of feed roller 83 is a gear 92 which meshes with another gear 93 mounted on a stud shaft 94. A plate 95, loosely pivoted on the stud shaft 94, carries a pawl 98 which is pivoted to the plate at 91. Pawl 96 cooperates with a ratchet 98, fixed to the stud shaft 94 so as to-be rigid with gear 93, and is held in contact with the teeth of the ratchet by means Of a suitable spring (not shown) justably secured thereto by means of screws II3 passing through slots II4. A pair of similar but upstandin supporting bars H5, H6, somewhat shorter than the bars III, II2, are adjustably secured to the breast beam 40 by means of screws II1 passing through slots II8. Each set of bars III, H5 and H2, H6 supports a pair of inclined guide rods II9, I20, on which ride respective guide sleeves I2I, I22, the rods being pivoted to the rear bars I, II2 by pins I23, I25 and to the front bars H5, III; by pins I24, I25.

A hook bar 10, carrying hooks IIO which are secured thereto by screws 13, is attached to the cross beam 69 of carriage 59 by shouldered bolts 14 which pass through vertical slots 15, thereby enabling the hook bar to be moved in a vertical direction under the control of sleeves I2I, I22 to which it is secured through the intermediary of links I5, I1 and screws I 8', the upper ends of these links being bifurcated and straddling lugs I21a, I21, formed on the underside of tlge sleeves, to which they are pivoted, by bolts I 8, 29'.

Briefly, the operation of the machine 20 is as follows:

At regular intervals, say, after each fourth traverse of the shuttle, the special harness lever I30 operates to pull on wire 65, thereby rotating the cylinder 54' and, with it, shaft 60 and cams- BI, 62. These cams depress levers 55, 53, thereby permitting the disengagement of the dogs or latches 5I from the sawteeth 50 of the slides 43, I43 when the plates I1I of the lay 21, on its forward swing, momentarily displace the carriage 59 by striking the lugs 1I. This allows the springs 46, 41 and I46, I41 to displace the carriage 59, together with the hook bar 10, into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5. The

latches or dogs 5I hold the carriage 59 in its retarding position; the said springs pull the carriage in with the movement or motion of the lay, the carriage following the lay in.

At this instant the harnesses 3i, 32 and 35 have been operated to form a shed which differs from the one illustrated in Fig. 2 by the fact that the yarns 88, as shown in Fig. 5, are now in a raised position. As will be seen from this figure, these yarns extend above and somewhat to the right of the upper warp threads 31a, formin an acute angle with them. It will further be noted that the guide rods H9, I20 are almost parallel to the yarns, bein only slightly less inclined than the latter.

The suspension of the hook bar from the sleeves I2I, I 22' and the vertical play afforded by the bolts 14 and slots 15 causes the hook bar 10, during the aforedescribed forward movement of the carriage 59, to ascend the guide rods II9, I20 until the hooks IIO, whose path intersects the yarns 88 at a very small angle, engage these yarns whereupon the lay 21, swinging clockwise into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, bears upon the lugs H and restores the carriage to its normal position; there the carriage will be retained by the dogs 5| for a predetermined period, the wire 65 havin in the meantime been released by the harness lever I30.

As the carriage 59 moves to the front, the hooks lie entrain the yarns 88, thereby forming the same into small loops as shown in Fig. 5. It is important to note that the hooks during their movement always stay clear of the warp threads 31, so that no entanglement or damaging of the ground warp need be feared. It will be understood that the yarns 88, during their entrainment by the hooks H8, are being sufficiently slackened to allow for the formation of the loops, the slack being imparted by a movement of feed roller 83 which was actuated by rod I90 during forward movement of the carriage.

The various adjustments necessary for different sizes of loops may be carried out in a very simple manner. To change the angle of the guide rods H9, I29, either the rear bars III, I I2 or the front bars I i5, I H6, or both, are raised or lowered as required. The length of the stroke executed by the carriage 59 may be modified by loosening the screws 12 shifting the lugs ii forwardly or rearwardly on the slides 43, A l. A measure of adjustability in a plane transverse to the direction of movement of the carriage is also provided by virtue of the fact that each of the links I6, I! consists of two parts bolted together, as shown.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiment shown but is, on the contrary, capable of numerous modifications and adaptions without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a machine for making looped fabrics, in combination, a reciprocable carriage, a hook bar, mounting means securing said hook bar to said carriage for entrainment in the direction of reciprocation of the carriage but with freedom to move in a direction substantially perpendicular thereto, at least one guide rod inclined toward the plane of reciprocation of the carriage, and link means including a sleeve riding on said rod for connecting said hook bar with said guide rod, thereby causing said hook bar to move at an angle relative to said plane of reciprocation when the carriage is displaced.

2. The combination according to claim 1, further comprising a frame supporting said carriage, and a pair of supports for said rod, each of said supports connecting a respective end of said rod with said frame, at least one of said supports being adjustable for varying the inclination of the rod relative to said plane 0 reciprocation.

3. In a machine or making looped fabrics, in combination, a frame, a plurality of harnesses controlling the movement of ground warp threads, an additional harness controlling the movement of pile warp threads, a reciprocable carriage, mechanism for displacing said oarriage toward said harnesses when said additional harness has inclined said pile warp threads more steeply than the ground warp threads so that the pile warp threads intersect the path of reciprocation of said carriage, a hook bar, a set of hooks on said hook bar, mounting means securing said hook bar to said carriage for entrainment in the direction of reciprocation of the carriage but with freedom to move in a direction substantially perpendicular thereto, guide means inclined toward the path of reciprocation of said carriage in the direction away from said harnesses, and link means connecting said hook bar with said guide means to move said hook bar along a sloped path which inclines toward said plane of reciprocation in the direction away from said harnesses when the carriage is displaced.

4. The combination according to claim 3 wherein said guide means comprises a rod secured to said frame, said link means including a sleeve riding on said rod.

5. The combination according to claim 3 wherein said mechanism comprises spring means continuously urging said carriage toward said harnesses, retaining means normally holding said carriage in a retracted position, periodically operative means for momentarily inactivating said retaining means, and restoring means effective after engagement of said pile warp threads by said hooks for returning the carriage to said retracted position.

6. The combination according to claim 5, comprising a set of harness levers and timing means for operating said harness levers in a predetermined order, certain of said harness levers controlling said harnesses, said periodically operative means including one of said harness levers.

BENJAMIN KAHN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 15,295 Horstmann July 8, 1856 222,477 Ellison Dec. 9, 1879 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 104,137 Germany July 10, 1899 273,059 Great Britain June 30, 1927 

